Beginners Course (Level-1)

Contents: History, Introduction to Chess, The Chess board, Introduction to pieces, Starting position, The Notation, The Pawn & Pawn promotion, The Rook, The Bishop, The Queen, The Knight, The King, Check, Checkmate, Special moves: Castling, En-passant, Relative value of chess pieces, How a game ends, How games are drawn, How to open a game, How not to open a game, Mating with two rooks, Mating with one queen.

Age group: 6 years and above.

Schedule: Once-a-week - 60 minutes session- 12 sessions in 3 months.

Duration: 36 hours (effectively).

Course Fees: Rs. 1500/=

What to expect: At the end of the course, the student should be able to play a full game of chess. The student would know all the rules and will be able to mate when left with sufficient mating material. However, the playing level will be elementary.

Pre-requisites: Knowledge of rules of the game. Familiarity with chess notation. Ability to mate with queen, two rooks OR successful completion of our beginners’ course.

Contents: A quick review of the Beginner’s course, Basic Checkmates (King & Rook v/s King, King + 2 Bishops v/s King), Simple 1 & 2 Move checkmates, Counting & making wise captures, Conversion of overwhelming material advantage, Scholar’s mate & Fool’s mate, An introduction to tactical themes (Pin trick, Fork trick, Double-attack trick, Discovered-attack & Discovered-check tricks, X-ray or Skewer trick). Basic King & Pawn Endings (Queening square, Opposition, Protected passed pawn, Outside passed pawn). Opening Principles (5 guidelines, Importance of castling, Importance of development), An introduction to tournaments.

Age group: 6 onwards.

Course Schedule: Once-a-week - 90 minutes session- 16 sessions in 4 months.

Duration: 56 hours (effectively).

Course Fees: Rs. 2400/=

What to expect: At the end of the course, the student should be able to play a full game of chess at a fairly good level. The student would know the basic principles of the opening and endgame and will be familiar with middle game tactics.

Pre-requisites: Familiarity with opening principles, middle game tactical motifs and basic endgames OR successful completion of our advanced-beginners’ course.

Contents: Undermining tactics-(Destroying the Defender, Deflection & Decoy tricks etc,). Repertoire building (In depth coverage of ‘select’ opening strategies). Middlegame combinations (assorted tactics). Mating patterns, 3 & 4 move Checkmate problems. Concepts of Planning & Decision Making.  Principles of attack (King in the centre, Castled King), Focal points. Practice games & analysis. Endings: Basic checkmate (King + Bishop & Knight v/s King), Triangulation, Advanced King and pawn, Queen v/s advanced Pawn, The wrong rook pawn. Ideas behind a few opening strategies etc.

Tournament: Two practice tournaments will be held; first, in the middle & second, towards the end of the course.

Age group: 7 onwards.

Course Schedule: Once a week - 90 minutes session- 20 sessions in 5 months.

Duration: 70 hours (effectively).

Course Fees: Rs. 3750/=

What to expect: At the end of the course, the student should be able to play a full game of chess at a fairly advanced level. The student will be expected to perform well in competition with other players. The student would be familiar with a ‘select’ few opening strategies, will be adept at middle game combinations, will be familiar with middle game planning and would have developed good attacking skills.

Contents:  Evolution of Opening theory (Romanticism, Classical & Hypermodern schools). Tactics: Line opening, Interception, Annihilation of defence, Queening combinations. Principles of attack: Focal points, King Hunt. Middlegame strategy, Middlegame Planning. Openings: Scotch, Ruy Lopez, Sicilian Dragon, French, Caro-Kann, Modern & Pirc. Advanced King & Pawn endings, Basic Bishop endings, Basic Knight endings, Rook and pawn endings: Rook v/s pawns, Lucena position, Philidor’s position, Analysis & synthesis.

Tournament: Practice tournaments will be held every quarter i.e. four in all.

Age group: 8 onwards.

Course Schedule: Once a week - 90 minutes session- 48 sessions in 12 months.

Duration: 168 hours (effectively).

Course Fees: Rs. 9750/=

What to expect: At the end of the course, the student would be familiar with a variety of opening strategies, should be able to adequately handle opening surprises, will be adept at middle game combinations & strategy. The student will be competent in middle game planning and will be able to play the endgames at a good level. The student is expected to achieve International Rating and win prizes in tournaments.

Delivery Method

Lessons are taught on an Electronic Demonstration Chess-set, the academy uses state of the art chess-teaching apparatus that saves loads of time and helps include a lot of supplementary material which the conventional demonstration chess-set does not allow.

Practice Session

A two-hour practice session is held on Sundays.“Practice makes perfect”, it is an integral part of any learning process; the academy endeavors to maintain a minimum instruction/practice ratio of 1:2, i.e. an hour of instruction is supplemented by 2 hours of practice (at least). This helps in reinforcing key concepts as the students get a chance to practically implement the theory taught. Students are given home assignments.

Batch Strength

Ideally 14 students in a batch.

Evaluation

To evaluate the knowledge-level of the students an exam is conducted at the end of the each Course.

Validation

On successful completion of each course, the student will be awarded a Diploma Certificate